My Dietetic Internship Experience

Having completed my internship entirely in a pandemic was one of the most anxiety ridden but grateful things I have ever had happen to me. Firs things first- I am so lucky I was able to be in person for some of my rotations, secondly I am so lucky to have no gotten sick during this time period, and thirdly I am so blessed to have met with and networked with so many different people. I'm not going to lie, interning during this tie was so nerve-racking- I would leave at night and hope I would come back the following day. I just wanted to share my experience through my Iowa State Distance Internship for those of you who may be interested or are trying to figure out who to apply to. 

Medical Nutrition Therapy Rotation: 

My rotation at St. Vincent's was probably the best and most one of a kind experience I could have asked for. I met all of the amazing RD's that work at St. V's and they were beyond welcoming and informative. I asked a lot of questions, which I'm sure amused them, but it was such a wonderful experience. I also got to work with the diet tech there and he is responsible for all of the formulas for tube feeds to include stocking and ordering and also hand makes the formulas for the infants as well. That was a fascinating experience. I saw patients with a whole host of everything from Covid to out-patient counseling, to trauma patients, to all the ICU's, and even peds and babies. I saw it all to include some unfortunate situations and some exciting disease states such as the one I did my clinical presentation on a Chylothorax trauma patient. I really enjoyed MNT and I think this is where my career path lies. Overall, MNT was the one rotation I felt I learned the most and was the most important in my opinion of them all. The rest I have had experience with in my adult life from various opportunities in the Air Force, being a personal trainer, and also working the jobs I have in the past. 

Food Service/Management Rotation: 

My time at Wright Patterson Air Force Base was probably one of my favorites, even though it was in food service. LOL... You know what I'm talking about. It just felt like home being around service members and really drove home the nagging feeling of wanting to be a RD at a military installation. My internship really hit this home. I want to serve those that serve us daily and that is my goal. Being at Wright Patt was a great experience, I was tasked to design the Halloween theme meal (shown above) and got to create the menu, name the fun food items, and be apart of the forecasting, ordering, and preparing of it all. I learned food service isn't really for me & it's not something I can see myself doing in the future, but that's what your internship is for, to help weed out what you aren't and also are interested in for your career. 

School Management Rotation: Perrysburg Schools: cancelled 

And so it goes with Covid-19. I could have been really upset by this and really let it drag me down, but I am beyond thankful that I have been able to be in-person at the sites I have thus far (at that point) and if I didn't get one that's okay. I have students in my community of practice that weren't able to be in person to ANY- YES I repeat ANY one of their sites. So I pressed on and completed an extensive amount of assignments and simulations to meet the requirements. The National School Lunch program is so interesting to me so I was more than happy to dive deep into this to have a greater understanding. 

WIC Rotation:cancelled

Unfortunately, I was not able to be on site for this rotation, so instead I worked on various case studies that involved, infants and mothers. I had a breastfeeding meal plan assignment and also various other WIC assignments. I was supposed to be on site at the Toledo Lucas County Health Department however, only 30% of their staff was currently working at the building and they were not taking any face to face appointments or offering classes. They were not able to accommodate me as an intern which I was bummed about, but Iowa State did an amazing job offering alternate learning experiences that really did supplement my knowledge and experience in this internship. 

Community Rotation:

My time at the YMCA of Greater Toledo was great and since I used to be a member at this YMCA it was really nice going back to my old community where I bought my first house. My preceptor asked me to develop a 6-session curriculum for Type 2 Diabetes which was a really great opportunity to have such a huge project that I was able to work on independently on and focus on not only the nutrition aspect of diabetes, but also the methodology, treatments to include medicines, and also addressing modifiable lifestyle factors. I was also able to have my hand in a hypertension/heart disease nutrition focus class and present MyPlate. Developing the curriculum from scratch was kind of neat and I was able to outline what I thought was most important which was pretty great. I also was able to work with several food banks to create boxes for family's Thanksgiving meals, which was very humbling and eye opening with how many families are currently food insecure at this point in the year with the pandemic. 

As I look back at the pages of assignments I completed & all the hours, it amazes me how quickly it has gone by. It was a great experience, but I truly believe that it will be what you make of it. If you hate it the entire time you will not learn much and it will not help you any in your future as a RD. Internship during a pandemic was absolutely less than ideal, but life throws us curves and it gave me an opportunity to adapt and overcome and pushed me out of my type A comfort zone with planning and preparation. 

As for what's next, I will be starting out at the 180th Fighter Wing come Dec 1 as the wing First Sergeant, during this time I plan on studying and preparing for my RD exam. I will be traveling for some training in the month of January for the military, so I will more than likely test in February at some point. I do not plan on scheduling the test till I feel ready. Currently I will be on orders till Sept 2021, so I am in no rush to find a job ASAP. So I plan on taking the exam when I feel most ready & will hopefully only have to take it one time. Guys, I'm so close to the finish line I can taste it. Becoming a dietitian has been a long and winding road full of a couple detours and so many uphill obstacles, but man will it be worth it to have those letters next to my name. Thanks for reading, let me know if you have any questions below!